Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

It may be that I've become a jaded cynic who has played way too many MMO's over the years, but the honest truth is that so far I've been pretty underwhelmed with the game.

I've only just gotten to level 10 and realize that there is still a lot of game to unlock and discover, but I'm actually already getting bored with it.

To start off you chose a faction. (yes, in 2014 new mmo's are still using faction vs faction) The Exiles are the scrappy underdogs and use lighter, more "attractive" (for lack of a better term) races and the Dominion are the darker, "uglier" races. Most people will be instantly reminded of Alliance vs Horde, but you know,... IN SPACE!

The gameplay is also instantly familiar. When my friend was telling me that the combat mechanics were interesting and different, I jokingly said, "What, like dodging from GW2?" This was before I knew this game was actually made by ncsoft (which I learned when I dl'd the game to use the guest pass) and holy shit, they actually did recycle and reuse the dodge system from GW2. Enemies will charge big attacks which show as red on the ground. This means gtfo. I'm sure we all remember this instructional video on how to play GW2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvS6zMThiZU Well, it's basically the same thing in Wildstar, but you know,... IN SPACE!

The little things, like the chat bubbles, text, quests, reps, all oddly remind me a lot of Rift. The alternate ability tree and skill loadouts are also similar to Rift.

The artwork has a definite Torchlight type vibe to it, albeit a lot more exaggerated. (by which I mean, balloon tits everywhere.)

I've yet to check out the PvP so I cannot report on that yet.

I won't totally write the game off yet since I'm at such a low level but from what I've seen and experienced so far, it just doesn't live up to the hype and comes across as a mediocre MMO.

If you liked GW2 and like a more sci-fi setting, it may be worth for you to check it out, otherwise I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone else.

I really loved the beta(Don't have time to play seriously). Most of my friends biggest turnoffs aren't even listed below. The biggest turnoff has been "But I don't like scifi MMOs and space, I like medieval" to which I chuckle and reply "But you liked guns, race cars, and space goats in WOW?"

The leveling is kind of your average MMO leveling affair. The games difficulty(At higher levels) and combat systems are a few of the things that really carried the rest of the MMO for me. If you are the type of person who loves hardcore MMOs and hardcore 40man raiding you will love wildstar. If all that stuff turns you off then the best the game really has to offer is pvp and all the crazy cool different customizations(House, Mounts, Gear)

I found the game to be addicting fun and the ability to either pay a subscription or buy it with in game currency from other players is smart and commendable._________________“I do like metaphorical heroin and my heroin dealer. EA”

The game is fine, the problems are its combat system is unforgiving and brutal on new or inexperienced players

Leveling to 50 in no way prepares you for the challenges at 50

Low level dungeons are just a large time waster with little reward for exp

Communities are very inclusive and makes it impossible to find adequate people

Most problems are fixed with Addons

Patch notes are brief and changes are often hidden with no mention

50+ Content

Adventures and Dungeons follow an difficult rank system which will only reward the gear players need if achieving Gold on their Gold, Silver, Bronze system

Adventures are sickeningly boring and required for 50 gear
If you find PUG's and encounter people playing together prepare to get kicked before the loot drops
Chances of getting gold on the Adventures which most classes require are extremely difficult to achieve gold in without extreme coordination

50+ you are absolutely required as DPS to run stuns and coordinate with your group to adequately intterupt a monster and dish out high damage and prevent the tank from getting blasted

Dodging Telegraphs is most important thing in combat and if you get hit by the telegraph, once, during an entire boss fight or fight in general you will die